Pages

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Look Again

Honeymoon's over, kids. Time to get back to the hard work of citizenship. Roxie's Worldjoins Katha Pollitt in urging you to make your voice heard on restoring the family-planning provisions to the economic stimulus package before the final version of the bill reaches the president's desk. Do what Katha says:

Call the White House comment line at 202 224 3121 and tell President Obama to put back the birth control provision. Then call your Senators at 202 224 3121 and tell them the same.

You won the election, Mr. President, and you've already made a couple of important moves aimed at ending George Bush's war on women and reproductive freedom. We commend you for that, but please don't let low-income women be used as a bargaining chip in a futile effort to pick up votes from the far-right wing of a severely weakened opposition party that has no real interest in working with you. That doesn't feel like the vaunted new politics you were supposed to be bringing to Washington, Mr. President. From where we sit, it looks, feels, and smells a lot like the old politics. We'd be happy to call you a feminist -- All you have to do is man up and act like one. Don't sell out low-income women and their families your first five minutes in office.

What are you still doing here? Didn't I tell you to go make phone calls? Go call your new best friend in Washington and tell him to do the right thing. That's why you helped put him and his pretty family in that lovely house you own downtown, isn't it? Start dialing.

Hi, Kami -- Nice meeting you, too, and great seeing you here. We give Obama credit for those good moves, but the family-planning thing really irks. If it holds up, it hurts women, and it gained him exactly nothing in terms of support for the stimulus package.

And of course the gag rule gets rescinded whenever a Democrat is in office -- doing that was nothing new. Why he did this to poor women I cannot figure out. He gained nothing by this. But perhaps he'll learn -- I thought he would've learned something from Rick Warren's disgraceful performance at the inauguration.

TODAY'S QUOTES

"As we gather here today in this historic magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House.

Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That has always been the history of progress in America."--Hillary Clinton, 6/7/08

"Give us the child who wants to learn, give us the people in need of work, give us the veterans who need our care. We say give us this economy to rebuild and this war to end. Give us this nation to heal, this world to lead, this moment to seize."--Hillary Clinton, 2/5/08

Hoosiers for Hillary

Photo Credit: Matt Dial, Indianapolis Star, 4/23/08

Inspirational Sports Photo

United States forward Abby Wambach celebrates after scoring the winning goal against France in the World Cup semifinal game, 7/13/11.

Heart-Warming Dog Photo

Sadie the Scottie won Best in Show at Westminster, becoming the eighth Scottie to do so, 2/16/10. Photo Credit: Barton Silverman, New York Times